The Snakes in the GOP Grass

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that the power players at American Crossroads are financing a new group to help fund candidates in the primaries who oppose conservatives. In light of their smashing success electing candidates like Tommy Thompson, Rick Berg, Denny Rehberg, George Allen, Heather Wilson, and Linda Lingle, they will expand their roadshow into the primaries during the next election cycle in search of the next candidate who is indistinguishable from his/her Democrat opponent.

In an Orwellian attempt to obfuscate their agenda, they will be naming their PAC “the Conservative Victory Project.” They will never tell you how they plan to achieve conservative victory without running conservative candidates.

As I solicit feedback from grassroots Republicans throughout the country in preparation for the 2014 elections, I’m struck by the deep sense of pain and disquiet that has penetrated the very core of our base. They are witnessing a rogue regime that is dismantling every aspect of this country they love so dearly – one limb at a time. They watch helplessly as a malevolent administration, which harbors no respect for our Founders and Constitution, works to destroy our free markets, saddles our children with incorrigible debt, infringes upon our liberties, assaults our family values, erases our borders, appeases our enemies, and abrogates the rule of law. Hence, they see the demise of our Republic, with only feeble resistance to those engendering the decline.

The values of our party’s base – the values that have made this country what it is today – are being labeled extreme by those who seek to implement their extreme views.

Those of us who believe that the government doesn’t have the right to redistribute wealth are lampooned as greedy.

Those of us who seek to enforce our immigration laws are labeled as bigots.

Those of us who protest the ever officious government interventions into every aspect of our personal lives and businesses are ignored.

Those of us who don’t want our human rights violated at airports are considered rabble-rousers.

Those of us who want to retain our Second Amendment rights are being challenged by an administration that has abused firearms by selling them to drug cartels via an agency that was never brought to justice for Waco and Ruby Ridge.

Those of us who abide by the laws of the land – even those that are of dubious constitutionality – are helpless in preventing a rogue administration thwart the legal checks and balanced in its pursuit of an agenda that is foreign to our Republic.

Millions of Republican voters feel disenfranchised and voiceless as the pale-pastel figures in the party rise to the top levels of power. All they want is one party that is willing to take a stand and articulate their values – values which were considered commonsense until recent years.

Over the past few election cycles, a number of us have worked hard to find those few but strong voices in the wilderness. We have successfully elected people like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and a number of congressmen who are committed to fighting for the values of our Republic. Yet, the old power players within the party will not go silently. They obdurately seek to quell any effort to restore the Republican Party as an effective voice for the values of our Republic.

Yes, it is not enough to merely nominate a conservative; we must also find candidates who are savvy, articulate, and have the organization to go the distance. But the minute we choose a candidate who is not conservative, we lose the election before a single vote is cast. Voters are attracted to a show of force and decisiveness; we will certainly never change hearts and minds if we nominate candidates who are indistinguishable from Democrats.

We are looking for one party that is willing to fight for the restoration of our Republic, not jettison every tenet of our Constitution under the false allurement of electoral success. One by one, people like Karl Rove seek to crush another sacred belief of the conservative base. All social issues? Gone. Enforcement before amnesty? No way. Stay strong on taxes? Forget about it. Fight Obamacare? That’s a done deal.

Folks, we must win back the soul of the Republican Party before we can effect any positive change. For my part, I’ll be working overtime through the Madison Project Majority PAC to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of strong voices for liberty. There are a number of other great conservative leaders, such as the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund, who will do the same.

In this battle, we must distinguish friend from foe. It is a battle we did not initiate, but it is one we must win.